Galloway ‘ashamed’ of affair, but says no prohibition on faculty-staff relationships

VANCOUVER – Author and former UBC creative writing chair Steven Galloway has told a court that he is ashamed of having had an affair with a student, but there was no prohibition on sexual relationships between faculty and students.

Galloway — who is now suing the woman and others for defamation after she made unproven accusations of sexual assault against him — said he knew of “numerous instances” of similar relationships in the University of B.C.’s faculty of arts. 

The defamation trial entered its fifth day in B.C. Supreme Court with the lawyer for the woman, known as A.B., telling Galloway his cross-examination would not be a “tea party.” 

Arden Beddoes questioned Galloway about a voice mail he left A.B. in November 2015, apologizing, saying he was ashamed and working to be a better person, and that he had “turned over a new leaf.” 

Galloway told the court he didn’t think he would be fired for violating the university’s conflict-of-interest policy. But he was suspended, then fired, and now sells boats for a living, telling the trial on Thursday he can no longer write.

He said on Friday that no other faculty members had ever been terminated for similar conduct, though he should not have cheated on his wife, let alone with a student. 

“I know of numerous instances in the faculty of arts where there have been relationships similar to this. And I’m unaware of anyone getting anywhere close to being, at this point, terminated for it,” Galloway said.   

Beddoes asked Galloway if he kept having sexual relationships with students, bringing up his current wife and fellow writer Katie Wagner, but Galloway said Wagner had not been a student for “well over a year” when they got together. 

“I remain ashamed of having had an affair period, let alone an affair with a student at the university I was at,” he said. “I should not have been cheating on my wife, and I should have not been doing it with a student.”

Galloway, the award-winning author of “The Cellist of Sarajevo,” alleges his career was destroyed by allegations of rape and sexual assault, which he denies and were found unsubstantiated in a report by a former B.C. Supreme Court judge.

His lawsuit against A.B. and others was originally filed in 2018.

Several people originally named as defendants have settled with Galloway and offered public apologies, while A.B., whose name is under a publication ban, is not testifying in the case due to mental health struggles related to the lawsuit. 

The court heard this week that her defence no longer includes an assertion she was assaulted, but rather that she reported the alleged assaults. 

The court heard on Friday that Galloway repeatedly called both A.B. and fellow faculty member Keith Maillard in November 2015, after receiving an email in which the woman, who was several years older than Galloway, described feeling at risk and “unsafe.” 

Beddoes suggested the numerous calls were him “panicking,” but Galloway said he wanted to tell Maillard, a mentor and “father figure,” about the affair himself, knowing his longtime friend would be disappointed. 

Galloway said it was “concerning” that someone he cared about felt that way about their relationship, which ended in the spring of 2013. 

He said his repeated calls to both A.B. and Maillard were not an attempt to “get ahead of” anything as Beddoes suggested, and he was trying to tell Maillard himself about the affair. 

“I don’t know if he would have continued to be my friend,” he said. “I wanted to be the one to tell him for that reason, not to diminish anything (A.B.) might say to him, but because I had done a bad thing and I owed it to him to tell him the bad thing.”

Beddoes told the court Maillard expressed disapproval about “fraternizing” with students in the UBC-sanctioned investigation conducted by retired judge Mary Ellen Boyd. 

The court heard that Maillard told Boyd that students’ personal lives weren’t his business, but “only their writing.”

Galloway was cross-examined about staff and student social interactions, which he said included them attending an on-campus pub.

“If you were to go to Koerner’s Pub today after class, you would see students and professors. So, it’s not like people are doing shots. It’s been going on since forever. Perhaps it shouldn’t, but I was not unique, nor do I think it was inappropriate,” he said.

The court heard that A.B. alleged she woke up on the floor of Galloway’s office in May 2011 after one of three alleged assaults, and he had been watching a hockey game on his computer.

But Galloway denied that occurred, saying he didn’t have cable to watch games in his office, nor were games streamed online in 2011.

“I can also say that I have no memory of, at that point, ever watching any hockey game, let alone that one in my office. It just wasn’t a thing,” he said. 

Galloway also said students and faculty went to a weekly “standing gathering” of writers at a legion on Main Street in Vancouver.

Maillard had told Boyd he “felt very uncomfortable with Stephen’s regular Thursday night gatherings with students to drink at the legion.”

But Galloway said other faculty members attended, it wasn’t confined to students and it wasn’t his event, only one he was “part of.” 

Beddoes later turned to specifics of Galloway’s book sales, taking the court through royalty statements and challenging the author on his claims that the ordeal tanked his career. 

Beddoes showed the court royalty statements for “The Cellist of Sarajevo,” both before and after the allegations surfaced in November 2015. 

There is no discernible difference, Beddoes said. 

Galloway said selling around 2,500 books in a six-month period is “exponentially more” than most Canadian books sell, and to see sales drop to around 600 in another period was, in his view, a “crater.”

The court has heard that Galloway had been working on a three-book comedy series about a ventriloquist detective, for which he’d received a $100,000 advance. 

Beddoes suggested the advance was less than he’d received in the past and reflected waning confidence by his publisher, which Galloway said wasn’t an accurate assessment. 

“In fact, most writers, if they pitched a book about a ventriloquist detective, would be told. ‘hey, stick to what you’ve done, author of serious war novel,'” Galloway said. “I think, if anything, them letting you do this shows a confidence in me, or at least a willingness to continue to take risks on me.”

The trial is set to resume on Tuesday with Galloway’s cross-examination continuing. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2026.